Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. - 1 Corinthians 10:14
God’s instructions to Israel were clear: When you enter the Promised Land, kill or drive out all of the Canaanites and destroy all of their idols, altars, and religious articles. However, as we have discussed over the previous few weeks, the Israelites did not follow through with the LORD’s command. For whatever reason, they allowed many of the Canaanites to remain in the land and continue their idolatrous practices. God warned Israel about the bad influence and potential dangers that these people posed, but nobody listened…
Why is it that we often resent being told what to do? This seems especially true when God gives us a command. Do we not realize that He is trying to keep us from temptation and sin? Do we not understand that His instructions are for our own benefit and well-being? Why are we so stubborn? God foreknew exactly what would happen to Israel, and it did.
This morning’s message is titled, “Israel’s Idolatry”. It is the 15th sermon of our ongoing series. We are currently about halfway through it. May God open our hearts, minds, and ears to the proclamation of His Word.
I. ISRAEL SERVES BAAL (Judges 2:11-15)
The sons of Israel abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Instead, they worshiped and bowed down to the pagan gods of the Canaanites who lived among them. They did evil in the sight of the LORD by serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
Baal was considered the highest and most powerful god of the Canaanites. Generally speaking, he was a fertility god who was thought to increase man’s ability to bear children and the earth’s ability to produce crops. Beyond this, however, Baal had many different attributes which were emphasized and worshiped in a variety of ways. Several adaptations of Baal were developed and adopted by individual localities, which explains the assorted Baals found in scripture. The word Baal means “lord”.
Ashtaroth, or Asherah, was the leading female deity of the Canaanites. She was a consort of Baal, the sun-god, and was considered to be the moon-goddess. She was also regarded as the goddess of love and war. Worshiping her involved sensuality and ritual prostitution. Asherah was represented by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground and typically carved in her image. As such, the places where she was worshiped became known as groves.
Due to their wicked idolatry, the LORD’s anger burned against the children of Israel. The LORD gave them over to their enemies all around who plundered the Israelites until they were too weak to stand against them. Wherever they went, God’s hand was against Israel for the evil things they were doing. Just as God had forewarned, so it happened - the Israelites failure to fully eradicate the Canannites led to their descent into idolatry.
II. THE LORD USES JUDGES (Judges 2:16-23)
Over the next few centuries a familiar pattern developed. The people of Israel would rebel against God and wander away into sin. As a consequence for their disobedience, God would allow a neighboring nation to dominate, plunder, and oppress them. Eventually, when the persecution became unbearable, the affected tribes would cry out in desperation and repentance. The LORD would compassionately hear their pleas and raise up a judge to deliver them. After being liberated, the Israelites would enjoy a season of revival and rest from their enemies (typically until the judge died). Then they’d slowly fall back into their former sinful and idolatrous habits thereby starting the cycle all over again.
It is important to remember that during the era of the judges the 12 tribes of Israel were independent from one another and governed themselves. They formed a confederation of sorts aligned around a common heritage and faith. They shared the tabernacle of God at Shiloh. Sometimes these tribes would cooperate with each other and other times they were at odds with each other. That said, the judges that arose during this era were regional leaders who were specific to a particular tribe or group of tribes. It is therefore possible and even likely that some of these judges served simultaneously in different areas of Israel (that is, their years of service overlapped one another).
There are 12 judges named in the book of Judges. They are Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. Some have 1 or more chapters dedicated to them, while others only a single paragraph or sentence. Over the next few months we will study the Biblical account of each of these judges and, along the way, we’ll encounter several other interesting characters.
III. THE REMAINING NATIONS (Judges 3:1-6)
God permitted certain pagan nations and ethic groups to remain in and around Canaan in order to test Israel’s faith and obedience. The generations that followed the conquest would learn war by combating against these (and other) antagonizers. These enemies included the Philistines in Philistia, the Sidonians in Phoenicia, and the various clans of Canaanites still living amongst the Israelites - the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Over time, the children of Israel began worshiping their false gods and idols as well as marrying their daughters and sons. The anger of the LORD burned against His people.
In the same way, God has chosen to leave lost and unrepentant sinners in the world. They live, work, and play alongside the Christians. Like the tares among the wheat, both will remain and grow together until the end-time harvest (Matthew 13:24-30). Until then, God will not remove them and we as believers are commanded to leave them be. Their presence presents us with the same test that the ancient Israelites faced… will we succumb to their wicked influences or will we be a light that draws them out of the darkness and to the Lord?
CONCLUSION
For me, it’s a bit frightening to see how quickly Israel turned from their faithful obedience to God (which allowed their parents to conquer the Promised Land) and instead embraced idolatry and pagan worship. Within a single generation, the children of Jacob largely abandoned the LORD and openly rebelled against Him. They brazenly invoked His wrath, completely forgetting the godly example set by Joshua, Caleb, and many others.
Before we launch into our study of the individual judges a few weeks from now, we are going to spend the next couple of Sundays reading a pair of stories that together reveal the depths of depravity to which Israel fell during this time. The upcoming messages will provide us with insight into the state of affairs among God’s people during the early judges period, and show just how bad things really were. As you will see, these stories are very graphic and quite disturbing.
In closing, idolatry is “the worship of someone or something other than God as though it were God.” In modern times, especially in the more developed parts of the world, very few people actually worship carved or molten images or statues. That said, we still practice idolatry through the worship of money, material possessions, fame, success, nature, science, sex, pleasure, politics, self, and so on. Many people allow these pursuits and/or lusts to take the rightful place of God. May the LORD forgive us for our reckless and rampant idolatry.
God’s instructions to Israel were clear: When you enter the Promised Land, kill or drive out all of the Canaanites and destroy all of their idols, altars, and religious articles. However, as we have discussed over the previous few weeks, the Israelites did not follow through with the LORD’s command. For whatever reason, they allowed many of the Canaanites to remain in the land and continue their idolatrous practices. God warned Israel about the bad influence and potential dangers that these people posed, but nobody listened…
Why is it that we often resent being told what to do? This seems especially true when God gives us a command. Do we not realize that He is trying to keep us from temptation and sin? Do we not understand that His instructions are for our own benefit and well-being? Why are we so stubborn? God foreknew exactly what would happen to Israel, and it did.
This morning’s message is titled, “Israel’s Idolatry”. It is the 15th sermon of our ongoing series. We are currently about halfway through it. May God open our hearts, minds, and ears to the proclamation of His Word.
I. ISRAEL SERVES BAAL (Judges 2:11-15)
The sons of Israel abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Instead, they worshiped and bowed down to the pagan gods of the Canaanites who lived among them. They did evil in the sight of the LORD by serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
Baal was considered the highest and most powerful god of the Canaanites. Generally speaking, he was a fertility god who was thought to increase man’s ability to bear children and the earth’s ability to produce crops. Beyond this, however, Baal had many different attributes which were emphasized and worshiped in a variety of ways. Several adaptations of Baal were developed and adopted by individual localities, which explains the assorted Baals found in scripture. The word Baal means “lord”.
Ashtaroth, or Asherah, was the leading female deity of the Canaanites. She was a consort of Baal, the sun-god, and was considered to be the moon-goddess. She was also regarded as the goddess of love and war. Worshiping her involved sensuality and ritual prostitution. Asherah was represented by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground and typically carved in her image. As such, the places where she was worshiped became known as groves.
Due to their wicked idolatry, the LORD’s anger burned against the children of Israel. The LORD gave them over to their enemies all around who plundered the Israelites until they were too weak to stand against them. Wherever they went, God’s hand was against Israel for the evil things they were doing. Just as God had forewarned, so it happened - the Israelites failure to fully eradicate the Canannites led to their descent into idolatry.
II. THE LORD USES JUDGES (Judges 2:16-23)
Over the next few centuries a familiar pattern developed. The people of Israel would rebel against God and wander away into sin. As a consequence for their disobedience, God would allow a neighboring nation to dominate, plunder, and oppress them. Eventually, when the persecution became unbearable, the affected tribes would cry out in desperation and repentance. The LORD would compassionately hear their pleas and raise up a judge to deliver them. After being liberated, the Israelites would enjoy a season of revival and rest from their enemies (typically until the judge died). Then they’d slowly fall back into their former sinful and idolatrous habits thereby starting the cycle all over again.
It is important to remember that during the era of the judges the 12 tribes of Israel were independent from one another and governed themselves. They formed a confederation of sorts aligned around a common heritage and faith. They shared the tabernacle of God at Shiloh. Sometimes these tribes would cooperate with each other and other times they were at odds with each other. That said, the judges that arose during this era were regional leaders who were specific to a particular tribe or group of tribes. It is therefore possible and even likely that some of these judges served simultaneously in different areas of Israel (that is, their years of service overlapped one another).
There are 12 judges named in the book of Judges. They are Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. Some have 1 or more chapters dedicated to them, while others only a single paragraph or sentence. Over the next few months we will study the Biblical account of each of these judges and, along the way, we’ll encounter several other interesting characters.
III. THE REMAINING NATIONS (Judges 3:1-6)
God permitted certain pagan nations and ethic groups to remain in and around Canaan in order to test Israel’s faith and obedience. The generations that followed the conquest would learn war by combating against these (and other) antagonizers. These enemies included the Philistines in Philistia, the Sidonians in Phoenicia, and the various clans of Canaanites still living amongst the Israelites - the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Over time, the children of Israel began worshiping their false gods and idols as well as marrying their daughters and sons. The anger of the LORD burned against His people.
In the same way, God has chosen to leave lost and unrepentant sinners in the world. They live, work, and play alongside the Christians. Like the tares among the wheat, both will remain and grow together until the end-time harvest (Matthew 13:24-30). Until then, God will not remove them and we as believers are commanded to leave them be. Their presence presents us with the same test that the ancient Israelites faced… will we succumb to their wicked influences or will we be a light that draws them out of the darkness and to the Lord?
CONCLUSION
For me, it’s a bit frightening to see how quickly Israel turned from their faithful obedience to God (which allowed their parents to conquer the Promised Land) and instead embraced idolatry and pagan worship. Within a single generation, the children of Jacob largely abandoned the LORD and openly rebelled against Him. They brazenly invoked His wrath, completely forgetting the godly example set by Joshua, Caleb, and many others.
Before we launch into our study of the individual judges a few weeks from now, we are going to spend the next couple of Sundays reading a pair of stories that together reveal the depths of depravity to which Israel fell during this time. The upcoming messages will provide us with insight into the state of affairs among God’s people during the early judges period, and show just how bad things really were. As you will see, these stories are very graphic and quite disturbing.
In closing, idolatry is “the worship of someone or something other than God as though it were God.” In modern times, especially in the more developed parts of the world, very few people actually worship carved or molten images or statues. That said, we still practice idolatry through the worship of money, material possessions, fame, success, nature, science, sex, pleasure, politics, self, and so on. Many people allow these pursuits and/or lusts to take the rightful place of God. May the LORD forgive us for our reckless and rampant idolatry.